Chapter 10: The Others

Beth’s two co-workers and their husbands were due at our house at 7:00 PM. Beth called me late in the afternoon and told me more good news. The one woman was good friends with two of the others who no longer work at Coulton Industries, and both agreed it was time their husbands knew. They would join us as well.

I called Tom Willis to warn him, and he suggested an approach for the evening. The ladies would meet on the back porch when they arrived while Tom and I broke the story to the husbands. We needed to control emotions, and those of us of the male gender are rather unpredictable when it comes to our wives.

Our guests had arrived and were separated per our plan. Initially, I would explain while Tom kept the peace. Once the ladies were brought in, Tom would run the dialog.

“Guy’s, I’m Nate Freed. All of you met my wife, Beth, when you came in. I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here. Over the last two weekends, while my wife was on a business trip for Coulton, she was molested by a fellow employee. One night she was given a drug we expect will prove to be a date-rape drug, and the other night she was physically forced to perform sex acts against her will. As you may have figured, I’ve forgiven her, but I never had to. It wasn’t her fault.”

One husband was anticipating the reason they were there and looked like he was getting hot. “Are we here because our wives screwed this guy?”

He got out of his seat and looked ready to find his wife and attack. Tom took charge.

“Sir, sit down please and let Mr. Freed finish.”

He grumbled but complied and I continued.

“To answer your question, you’re partially right. The man accused admitted to molesting all of your wives.”

The husbands didn’t take that news well. They were getting restless. I forged ahead.

“Guys, please listen. Don’t be fools and blame your wives. They are victims. The jerk responsible has threatened them all. He took videos and said he would release them to the internet and to their families, friends, churches, and everyone else he thought would keep them in line. Your wives have all held this awful burden within themselves to protect everyone they love, including you. They need your love and support. That means we all need to stay calm and understand the pain they’ve been carrying. Detective Willis will be monitoring each of your families so we know everyone is in control. We need each other to stay appropriately focused to nail this guy and make him pay. To help assure that, his name will not be divulged. Your wives have received an order from Judge Dunn to be sure they never reveal his name to anyone until he is charged and on trial. That order includes not telling any of you because we want to nail this guy, and any reprisal could jeopardize the process.”

We fielded questions, calmed tempers, and had sustainable control within 30 minutes. The women joined us, and Tom questioned each one in private with their husband present in order to get their statement. Beth and I acted as counselors as each married couple processed this new reality. By the end of the evening, there were four couples who we were proud to call new friends. Each couple, at some point, started the healing process with the husbands holding their wives and crying with them. We agreed to meet every Monday night for the foreseeable future so Tom could keep us informed.

On Tuesday, the result from the glass showed Don and Beth’s fingerprints, and the remaining wine tested positive for one of the date rape drugs. The D.A. had obtained both an arrest and a search warrant that would be enforced as soon as Don reached his front door from the airport late Wednesday evening. He would be taken into custody and formally charged.

Next target—Coulton Industries.